Whats the humdrum about Chaps? Adventures into Victorian Science Fiction and Steampunk with ramblings about Aeronefs, Dirigibles, Land Ironclads, Anarchists, Dinosaur Hunting, Terranefs, Aquanefs, Mad Scientists, and all manner of electric contraptions and steam conveyances. It may not make sense, but there will be claret and a nice cheese board at the end. Tally-Ho and "Vôtre dans une sauce au vin blanc!"

Friday, 29 October 2010

With a cry of "Remember Liège!!" the plucky Belgian army enters the fray against the nefarious French!

In these exclusive brand new pantographs we see the latest land ironclads from the Brigade factorium to released to interested buyers at the forthcoming arms show Crisis 2010 in Antwerp. They may not be the biggest, but by jove they'll give the pesky Frogs and rebellious Martians something to think about, eh what?

Marie Henrietteclass three land ironclad

Louise-Marie class four land ironclad

Charlotte-Ameilieclass five land ironclad

By Tas: You can also see the Belgian infantry to accompany these LI at Mssr Blease's blog here:

Monday, 25 October 2010

Mark from "Conflict in Colour" has very kindly sent me these pics of new minis from Spartan Games's Dystopian Wars. These are the British Carrier and Japanese Battleship, which he painted. Good show old bean!

Neil from Spartan Games also informs me that these are pre-release models, which means they are made from sample resin, and not release quality. Yes, that means the ones we will be able to buy will be even better!

Friday, 22 October 2010

Definitely more pulp than VSF, but I want to spread the word for Nic at Eureka Miniatures. Plus you could convert them to Prussian Dinotruppen for service on Venus too! These are the figs I had the pleasure using during the Jurassic Reich game at Little Wars back in May - great fun!
More pics at the Man Cave here:http://tasmancave.blogspot.com/2010/06/jurassic-reich-detailed-report.html
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Dateline - February 1943: the American push into North Africa is met with stiff opposition from Rommel's combat-hardened Afrika Korps. The official histories will tell of great numbers of inexperienced American troops fleeing Rommel’s panzers at Kasserine Pass, but those who were there know it took more than just a few tanks to strike such terror into the minds of so many young American soldiers. The truth was that they had to face a new horror - from another time. Squadrons of flying creatures - Pterodactyls! - armed with anti-tank weapons and bombs, had swooped down and relentlessly pursued the shocked Americans into the Atlas Mountains.

The Allied generals and their political masters were stunned. Where had these creatures come from? Stalin suspected an Anglo-American plot to deceive him created by those “degenerate capitalist tricksters in Hollywood”. Others simply refused to believe it. General Patton dismissed the Pterodactyls as the “Delusional rantings of a load of yellow bellies who need a good slapping!” - until two Pterodactyls strafed his car near Djedjelli. But in London the news struck a chord with British Intelligence who had been gradually piecing together the strange story of an ancient seven-sided archway (dubbed the 'Anubis Gate' because of the hieroglyphics that adorned it) that Napoleon's troops had uncovered in Egypt in 1801. Defying interpretation for almost a century and a half, the artifact had remained, almost forgotten, in a basement of the Louvre Museum. But within hours of the fall of Paris in 1940 a team from Himmler’s Ahnenerbe (the Nazi Occult Bureau) had arrived with a truck and they took the 'Anubis Gate' off to a secret location in Germany.

Sometime during 1941 the Nazis discovered that when ‘energised’ the artifact became a time portal to the prehistoric past. They sent through armed expeditions looking for ancestral Aryan supermen, but they returned with captured dinosaurs. Keen to explore the possibilities further, expeditions were sent to establish research and training facilities back on Cretaceous earth (and thus safe from Allied bombing). By the end of 1942 the Nazis had trained a number of units: the Kriegsclaws – Dinonicus (deinonychus) mounted SS cavalry; and the Pterowaffen – pterodactyls deployed as air defence fighters or in ground attack roles.

After their successful introduction in Africa, Hitler ordered the deployment of dinotruppen across Europe – on the Eastern Front (forcing even Stalin to acknowledge their existence), in the Balkans, along the coastline of Normandy, and in the defence of the Italian peninsula. The mountainous Balkans and the trackless wastes of the Russian steppes and forests became excellent hunting grounds for the Kriegsclaw; in fact wherever the terrain was impassable for vehicles or the distances so great that fuel supplies were an issue – these agile creatures were in their element. Principally used for screening and reconnaissance roles, the Kriegsclaw were occasionally used offensively to assault an enemy's flanks (as in the Kursk encirclement) or to cover infantry withdrawals. Nazi Germany had harnessed the greatest primeval forces the world has known - it was the dawn of Jurassic Reich …

Designed by Kosta Heristanidis and Mike Broadbent, these figures are part of our Pulpiations “pulp fiction” range and can be used alongside our “Dogface GI’s” or any number of 28mm World War Two ranges that are out there. Colour schemes are optional. We are looking forward to the heated internet forum debates over the correct camouflage colours to use, and telling us that the number of teeth we’ve given the Dinonicus is more appropriate to an Ausf C rather than an Ausf D.

Wednesday, 20 October 2010

From Sculptor/Modeler/Author Chris Ferree, returns his original line of figures for the Spanish-American War in 15mm. First produced by Richard Houston over 10 years ago as part of the innovative "Battles In A Box" miniatures collections, the full line is once again available exclusively from TVAG.

Masterfully cast by Tom Dye of GFI/MiniFigs USA, the figures come from newly mastered molds and are as crisp and full of character as ever.

"Rough Riders!" consists of all troop types actually sent to Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippine Islands by the United States, and as they fought the defending Spanish forces. The Spanish are themselves well represented by the troops (as defined by recognizable uniform types) defending the last outposts of their former Empire.

And as combat with the Spanish ended, new foes appeared. Of these, the most colorful and exotic were Spain's perenial Philippine enemies, the Moros. "Rough Riders!" provides these fanatical warriors and their lethal weapons in spades.

Tuesday, 19 October 2010

A big Huzzah to Andrew Sewell who this month has begun his own VSF Blog titled 'Martians & Machine Guns'. His 6mm chaps are very nice and I'm looking forward to following his continued adventures into VSF silliness!http://haarken.blogspot.com/

Monday, 18 October 2010

The next major line from Spartan Games, this is scheduled for release in November 2010 with four great nations from this war ravaged world: Kingdom of Britannia, Empire of the Blazing Sun, Prussian Empire and the Federated States of America.

This is a game involving airships, land ironclads and of course mighty naval platforms. Here is the Prussian "Storm Cloud Carrier"

Sunday, 17 October 2010

The ArmChairGeneral (Rob) well be running a demo of the When the Navy Walked: Core II rules at Borderlands Comics and Games on Wednesday October 20 from about 6:00-9:00 immediately following their Jacksonville Garrison meeting. He will be bringing enough for several games at once. He will also be trying out some of the new rules from the Martian supplement!

Friday, 15 October 2010

When the Navy Walked - Core Rules 2 Note: Thank you for purchasing When the Navy Walked! You have the core book in the ground level of a new venture that I started because I wanted to be able to share my ideas. When the Navy Walked is more than just a game or an idea it is a springboard for imagination. The Victorian Science Fiction genre has always been one that attracted creative individuals. The rules in this book should allow you to have many fun battles using the Great Powers. Look for coming supplements such as scenario and army books that will be designed to expand the alternate universe and add rich elements to the game!

Sunday, 10 October 2010

Now as any good officer knows intel is paramount when up against pesky natives, especially when serving off planet. Now thanks to those good chappies at Dynamite Publications we have some more resource to help subjugate the bally Martians in the form of an intelligence briefing cleverly disguised as a comic book (no doubt to fool the French).

Warlord of Mars is apparently a prequel to those briefings from that Burroughs chappie and is available this month so get the man servant to pop out and pick up a copy, though make sure he puts it in a plain paper bag as it is unlikely the Memsahib will appreciate the fact that those dusky Martian maidens aren't so keen on wearing clothes and get the wrong idea, harrumph!

Friday, 8 October 2010

What ho chaps! Jolly exciting news and pantograph imagery of the wonderful new model French land ironclads from those clever chaps at Brigade Models in their Maidstone factorium.

Release is imminent so dig out those bank notes and get your butler ready to pop along to the post office to buy a penny black and post an order to the Brigade chappies. At last we'll be able to recreate the damned thrashing we gave the Froggies at Caterham on our sand tables! Huzzah!

The pantographs show the new models alongside some Irregular French infantry and cavalry so you can assess scale and marvel in the wonderfulness of the new models.

Detendu class one land ironclad:

Immuablement class two land ironclad:

Vengeance class three land ironclads:

Glorieux class four land ironclads:

Blockhaus Roulant class five land ironclads:

We've also managed to sneak out some exclusive top hole news which we'll share with you once we have clearance from GHQ so keep your Babbage Engine warmed up and get your man servant to check back regularly you enjoy a good cheese board and fine port.

The Society of Fantasy and Science Fiction Wargamers

A fine bunch of Chaps indeed!

Chaps who have dropped in for a cigar & a glass since 14Aug07

Notes regarding images: These are not all my images. In addition to my own pics, I am using various images from around the web, mostly from public sources or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your images(s) if it an infringement.